New York, USA - Jews for Jesus founder Moishe Rosen, who gained thousands of followers while antagonizing the Jewish establishment, died Wednesday at age 78.
"Within Judaism today, there is no salvation because Christ has no place within Judaism," Rosen wrote in a statement that his followers posted on JewsforJesus.org when he died.
Jews For Jesus is the world's largest Messianic Jewish organization. The group urges Jews to embrace Jesus as their savior without ditching their Jewish culture.
Rosen's idea that Christian missionary efforts fit with Jewish tradition caused conflict with other Jewish leaders.
"What they are attempting is spiritual genocide," Philip Abramowitz of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York said in 1995. "They want to see Judaism destroyed as an entity."
Rosen was born into an Orthodox Jewish family but converted to Christianity with his wife in 1953, prompting his parents to stop speaking to him. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1957.
In 1970, he moved to San Francisco and started organizing his movement, modeling his campaign after anti-war protests in the Bay Area.
After founding Jews for Jesus in 1973, Rosen served as the group's executive director until 1996. His missionaries now have offices in 11 countries.
The web site JewOrNotJew.com labeled Rosen "Barely a Jew" in 2008.
"Jews for Jesus? How does that fit?" the site wrote. "What's next, Atheists for God?"
But no matter what others said about him, Rosen never stopped calling himself Jewish.
The Washington Post quoted him as saying, "You can say I'm a nuisance, a Christian, out of step with the Jewish community, but you can't say I'm not a Jew."